


he was ugly to begin with

by erzi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, i kept trying to upload this yesterday but ao3 is being DUMB so this is late
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 21:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2243724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erzi/pseuds/erzi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You're dumb,” he tells Oikawa.</p>
<p>“Iwa-chan, is that the only word you know?” Oikawa teases, laughing as he skips away, “Hurry up, or you're the dumb one!”</p>
            </blockquote>





	he was ugly to begin with

**Author's Note:**

> iwaoi week day 1: childhood

Oikawa's grin is sly and his eyes glitter with mischief. He's holding a lumpy-looking canvas bag. _Oh no_ , Iwaizumi thinks as he briefly eyes the bag with dread.

“What dumb idea is it this time,” he states flatly, crossing his arms with a frown.

“It's not dumb!” Oikawa says with a pout, “You're gonna love this, Iwa-chan, pinky promise! Just ask your mom if you can come with me to the park.”

_The park?_ Usually Oikawa's spur of the moment half-witted ideas of summer fun began somewhere unusual doing something probably illegal (Iwaizumi was still kept up at night by last summer's incident at the creek; surely police officers knew when someone had littered, and they hadn't come after him... yet). But at the park, a public place out in broad daylight, it couldn't be something a seven year-old who stupidly listened to his idiot friend would get sent to jail for. His chest feels lighter.

“Okay,” he says, and closes the door a bit as he turns his head in his mom's general direction, yelling for permission to go.

“Be back home before 5!” she distantly replies from somewhere in the house, and Iwaizumi steps out, closing the door as he joins the giddy, bouncing Oikawa, who assures him again he's going to _love_ this, no doubt on his mind.

* * *

They sit under the shadow of a large tree.

“Are you ready?” Oikawa asks, hand inside the canvas bag.

Iwaizumi shrugs nonchalantly, not letting Oikawa have the satisfaction of knowing he's burning with curiosity.

“Okay! Here... we... go!” He pulls out something with a dramatic flourish. Iwaizumi stares at it a bit, not believing his eyes.

“That,” he says slowly, “Is... a candy-colored... ball.”

“Yup!” Oikawa says, looking at Iwaizumi like they have found a treasure chest instead.

The disappointment is heavy in his chest. _I don't know what I expected._ “Why were you excited about showing me a ball? I guess the colors are sort of cool, but it's just a ball, dummy.”

“Because this isn't a normal ball, Iwa-chan. This is a _volleyball_!” Oikawa beams. “I walked by here a few days ago and saw some girls playing it. I thought it looked really fun and I wanted to try playing it with you, so I asked if I could borrow one of their balls. They let me! So let's play!” He gets up, impatiently tugging at Iwaizumi's wrist. Iwaizumi grumbles as he stands up.

“You're dumb,” he tells Oikawa.

“Iwa-chan, is that the only word you know?” Oikawa teases, laughing as he skips away, “Hurry up, or you're the dumb one!”

Iwaizumi blushes. “No! You're- you're also _stupid_!” He feels very proud of his swift save and briskly catches up to his friend.

“Do you even know how to play volleyball?” he asks him, watching as Oikawa throws the ball up into the air with all his might. It does a very small, tight arc and ends up falling directly on Oikawa's face. Laughter immediately bubbles out of Iwaizumi.

“Don't laugh at me!” Oikawa says, rubbing his face, “Iwa-chan, it _hurt_! Is my face red?”

Iwaizumi manages a nod in between his wheezy laughs.

Oikawa feels prickles in the corners of his eyes. “I said don't laugh at me!” He throws the ball at Iwaizumi, and it bonks him on the head. That gets him to stop laughing. His mouth drops open, eyes incredulous.

“Don't throw it at me either, you big baby!” he says, indignant, “Or what, are you still six?”

“You _laughed_ at me!”

“Because you were acting really annoying and ended up hitting yourself!”

“Well-!” Oikawa begins, and suddenly freezes, the anger in his face turning into wide-eyed fright.

_That's weird._ “What's wrong?” Iwaizumi asks worriedly, walking toward him.

Oikawa's hand goes slowly up to his mouth, and he tentatively spits into it, looking down. He screams shrilly, and as Iwaizumi's hands shoot up to cover his ears, he notices the bright red hole in Oikawa's mouth.

“My tooth!” Oikawa shrieks, crying tears and snot and blood, “I knocked out my tooth!” He covers his mouth again with his hands, realizing now there is a gap between his teeth. “Don't look at me, Iwa-chan, I'm so uglyyy!”

“Calm down, Oikawa, that's normal! Our teeth should be falling out soon,” Iwaizumi says, grabbing Oikawa's hands and pushing them away. “Open your mouth and let me see which tooth it was.”

Oikawa shyly glances away and opens his mouth a bit.

“It's in the bottom.”

“It feels weird,” Oikawa sniffles, “Like there's nothing there, but there sort of is?” He runs his tongue along the gap. “I feel something poking up. Am I dying?!”

“No, that's your new tooth coming in, the grown-up one,” Iwaizumi explains, trying to keep his voice as even and soothing as he can, “My mom told me. None of mine have fallen out yet – I would have told you if that happened – but she told me to be ready for when it happened.” He grabs the volleyball, puts it back in the bag, slings his arm through its straps, and takes Oikawa's hand. “C'mon, let's go to my house to get you gauze and ice cream.”

“Ice cream?!” Oikawa says, perking up.

“Yup, my mom says it helps stop the bleeding after you clean the hole up with gauze, but I don't actually know what gauze is.”

“That's cool! What flavor ice cream do you have?”

“Strawberry, I think. But stop talking, I think that'll just make you bleed more.”

Oikawa obediently nods. They walk home hand-in-hand.


End file.
